Nekozawa's Journal of Mysteries
by RazzDazz
Summary: This is a collection of independent stories from his personal files. He narrates the stories and brings us to view bits of his upcoming quest to retrieve a cursed item with Haruhi.
1. Expanding Mansion

Umehito Nekozawa was looking thoughtfully at the seven gold coins stacked vertically on the polished table in his study. A slight breeze made the curtains flutter. He glanced at the fluttering curtains and sighed as he shifted his pale blue gaze at the gold coins. He took the stack and placed them into a small leather pouch. He went at the center of circular room. He stood beneath the chandelier and knelt. He placed his right hand on the ground in front of him. A glow emitted from him palm which seemed to flow into the faint lines on the floor. The glowing lines formed a pentagram.

There was echoing sound of something opening. The pentagram ground slowly descended like a lift with him still kneeling at the center as it slowly rotated and it stopped at the west wall. He rose and glanced at a small empty slot, number 265. He bit his right thumb and rubbed the blood on the thumb on the stone slab of number 265. The stone slab absorbed the blood and the slab opened. He bit the pad of his right ring finger and with the blood on his thumb, "I bind and cast the Seven Coins of Midas into the limitless abyss forever." He pressed his bloodied thumb and ring finger on the tied leather pouch.

The blood on the pouch turned to glowing red threads and the threads bound the pouch tightly. He placed the pouch into the opened slot and the slab automatically closed the slot. He heard a faint vacuum sound within number 265. He also heard a faint wailing from within number 265. He felt the hairs on the back of his nape stand. He swiped the blood from his thumb and ring finger on the number 265. The blood absorbed into the stone slab and fortified the slot with a light red glow. He stepped back into the center of the pentagram and it ascended upwards to the study.

He stepped out of the pentagram and the glowing lines diminished. He walked to the window, placed his thumb and ring finger into his mouth. The saliva from his tongue cleaned the wounds. Then he watched the darkened seven mountains in the twilight sky. The seven coins were one of seven cursed items that had been stolen from his cousin's mansion in Russia. The Nekozawa clan had been notified of the imminent danger and the importance of retrieving the accursed ancient items. It wasn't how it was stolen but how to retrieve them back.

Four of the seven stolen items have been retrieved successfully by his Russian cousin. The seven coins of Midas would bring out the manifestations of greed to those having hidden that dark sin in their hearts. The end result for all the cursed items were death especially if the items were stolen from the two owners. The robbers were found dead in the most gruesome way that none would assume it was done by humans. Those who bought the items usually through illegible means would find that their lives were like a thin, fine line and fragile enough to be broken.

As the descendant of the Dark Mage, he was one of two owners of the accursed items. If one owner found the item of the co-owner, nothing would happen to them. The remaining three accursed items according to the communiqué were in Japan. With the coins already secured, there were two left and the perfect person in this sort of quest would be the person who'd helped him retrieve the coins. The person on his mind was his curse breaker, Haruhi Fujioka. The next item he needed to secure was the Deadly Vanity Mirror.

He turned to smile in his lazy mysterious way to an invisible audience, "Hello, my delightful wandering and wondering cats. As you have just witnessed, this is what I do when I'm not designing and developing technological weapons for the government. The world as we see and live in isn't the only world in existence. There are others worlds, unknown to us where the items there are terrifying and fatal to us. As you've witnessed, the coins were from one of these dimensions. The people involved in stealing and selling and owning the coins were all dead."

"Their deaths were abnormal, sadistic and beyond the word of pain." Placing an elbow on the window sill, "My advice, if you happened to notice any coin on the ground, or in a fountain or anywhere at all, never ever pick it up. Just leave it. You might never know what you'd bring back with you." He narrowed his eyes, "The story I'm about to tell you isn't about the coins. Well, perhaps I'll tell some other time. But this story is from my personal files about a Yakuza whom I used to know before he became one of the four vice chiefs to the chieftain of the underworld outfit."

"He told me the story of his rival's inopportune. His rival was hired by a mysterious client to retrieve a few items in an ancient and abandoned mansion. However," He shook his head, "the cat burglar that his rival had commissioned had other ideas…"

_**Midnight, an old mansion on top of a hill in Isshouan…**_

Akira Kamata, the sleek and notorious dorobo-neko (cat burglar/thief) broke into the old mansion belonging to a deceased rich man in his late nineties to steal certain items in the mansion. Roichi Murakami, his contractor laughed as he'd beaten his rival Ritsu Kasanoda in this once in a lifetime job. Who wouldn't want to 'take' the items in the legendary mansion? It was said the items in this mansion were out of this world, one of their kind and to kill for.

"Akira," Roichi passed him the list, "These items will bring the world on its knees and I want them. You have the first one million," Roichi motioned one of his henchmen with a silver attache case to open it for Akira to see, "And you'll have another million if you pull this off successfully."

He gazed at the yakuza leader with impassive eyes. "I don't want the money. I want something else…"

Roichi raised an eyebrow, "You don't want money?" He chuckled, "This isn't like you." He nodded, "Okay, what?"

Akira pointed at the ancient ring on Roichi's middle finger given to him by the mysterious client. "That would do just fine."

Roichi narrowed his eyes, _greedy pup_, he thought then he gave a slight smile, "As expected of a specialist." He took off the ring and threw it to Akira who caught it with ease.

Akira slipped it on to his forefinger and nodded his gratitude, "Success is guaranteed."

He was here now. He switched on his torchlight to discover the house was thick with dust and cobwebs from top to bottom. As he browsed, his gaze caught sight of the pale glint of tarnished items from each area he'd shone the torchlight at. All were made from pure silver with a few having pure gold lining. He'd insisted that the yakuza boss the intricately designed ancient ring he wore as he skillfully flicked the specific items and inserting them into the specialized sack. He smiled at his fortune as he passed the portrait of a beautiful woman in the master bedroom with long flowing hair billowing in the wind.

Flowing hair? Billowing in the wind? He turned his head to stare at the portrait. The image of the portrait looked far yonder. He shrugged and was convinced there wasn't anything particularly odd about it at all. It was all tricks of the moonlight casting shadows into the broken French windows. He peered closer and booed at the portrait. All of a sudden, his eyes widened in fright, a four inch nail from a forefinger nearly poked his eyes out. He jumped back in fright and fell on his bum on the dusty floorboard. The portrait of the woman had glowing red eyes.

"Leave the items behind if you value your life," She rasped angrily, her beautiful face contorted into something unimaginable, her perfect white teeth changed into razor sharp yellow teeth.

Frightened, he immediately stood up but not wanting to leave the sack. It was mad if he left it behind. The items were worth a fortune. He'd planned to skip off with the loot. He grabbed it on the floor and ran out of the room towards the door. He reached for the knob than suddenly he heard the mansion groaned, creaked and trembled. He yelped in terror as he felt and saw the mansion grew larger, wider and deeper. He was shocked to find the door had zoomed away about fifty paces from him. He stood staring dazedly, uncomprehending the bizarre situation.

Frantic, he ran with the sack on his back towards the door. But it was like running on a reversed side of the escalator. He was perspiring and breathing heavily. He heard the raspy, eerie voice again, "Leave them!" Panic stricken, he searched for an outlet in that 'inner' maze and upon seeing a broken window, he made a desperate move by flinging himself out of it. It changed into a wall. He crashed hard against it and plopped on the floor, splitting his upper lip and spitting blood. His vision doubled, and when it cleared, only the grogginess remained.

A large shadowy mist loomed over him, he glanced up and his eyes widened in horror. A black misty figure with red angry eyes was eye to eye with him. The specter grabbed his forefinger the one wearing the ancient ring and ripped off that finger. Blood spurted. The act was sudden that his brain hadn't time to process the pain. When he saw blood splattered on his face and clothes, he screamed of shock and pain. The specter ate the bloodied finger with the ring and grabbed his injured anatomy and punctured it with its long and black finger nail. Akira screamed again, than he couldn't scream anymore.

There was no voice. He tried to cry out but nothing came out. He found that he was paralysed from the neck down. He could only stare and gape in alarm as the fearsome specter grabbed his ankles in an iron-like grip. Helpless, all he could do was cry in fearful silence and his arms flailing to grab onto something, as it dragged him into the pitch black corridor leading into a darker abyss within the mansion. The contents in the sack were in their original places in the mansion. The sack was nowhere to be found. There weren't any traces of blood or it being broken into. The mansion remained as silent as the grave.

"Akira was greedy and he wanted more. What he didn't know was that the ancient and abandoned mansion and the contents including the ring were cursed by the spirits of the hill. The items couldn't be taken from the mansion without a key. The ring was the key. However the guardian only allowed those with pure of heart to take the items." Umehito was seated in a plush dark maroon leather arm chair.

His fingers were laced together and place below the belt. He frowned slightly, his pale blue eyes glittered eerily, thinking of something aloud, "But who was the mysterious client? The ring was the key. How was it that it was in the client's possession? Unless the client was a descendant of the deceased no one else could possess the ring."

"Also, if the client had the ring shouldn't the client collect the items himself or herself? Why need someone else to retrieve what was his or hers? Unless the client wasn't a descendant of the deceased, or the client hasn't a pure heart," He wrote his opinions in the leather bound journal, "a mansion that expands into a maze from within has many dark secrets to hide. "What secrets does that mansion contain? I'll name it as 'The Case of The Expanding Isshouan Mansion.'" He then closed the journal when his cellphone rang, and he answered it with a lazy smile.

"Haruhi," he spoke gently, "thank you for calling. I know you're busy but I have a lead to our next quest. I need you." He smiled again, "Yes, same time and place. See you then."

THE END

**A/N: I hope you liked it. This is a prelude. I may continue this but not so soon, that too will depend on your response to this fic. If not, stories of Neko and Haruhi in a supernatural quest will remain a mystery. First timers I recommend you to read 'CURSE BREAKER' and 'BLACK BLOOD' to get the gist and to know the characters. Thank you for reading and reviewing.**


	2. Call From Beyond

In a dimmed study, a man with sandy blond hair was scribbling something on a yellowed page of a leather bound journal. There was a soft mewl from his familiar as it leapt on his table. The black cat sat on the table staring at its master with fathomless orange eyes. The man glanced up to meet the orange gaze of his familiar and he smiled in his usual mysterious smile as if he knew what that gaze meant.

"Yes, I know," He patted the cat's head, "she's alright." he said gently to his familiar, "So stop worrying." He shifted his pale blue eyes to an unseen audience and winked knowingly, "Well, hello there. We meet again."

He placed the quill into the ink bottle. Yes, this was the twenty first century but he loved old items. Many of the items in his palatial residence were ancient. Some were normal, some dangerous and cursed. Currently, he was busy trying to retrieve the second cursed item, the Deadly Vanity Mirror. It had claimed its first victim there were five more to go. The first victim died horribly. She was skinned alive. He had to get to it before it claimed the remaining five victims and formed into something terrible.

His curse breaker and partner, Haruhi Fujioka was to meet him at a Maid Café in Shibuya was the one owned by the sweet tooth Mitsukuni Haninozuka called 'Choco-Candy.' But she called to say she'd visit him in his home. He was taken by surprise when she said this. He knew she didn't really like the immense mansion. There was an incident here which had caused her to disappear for half a day into a different dimension. When she did appear, she was injured badly.

It wasn't traumatic for her because as she claimed that there were clear and present danger at the other side that needed her help. If she didn't help, it might have disrupted the universal balance. It was so like her to be fair even when the odds were against her. She was tough and soft at the same time. A good EQ balance as well as having a high IQ was an added plus. The experience in that dimension somehow made her see things differently.

She wasn't skeptical when he asked for her help in his quest to retrieve the three cursed items. She shone again for the first quest in retrieving the seven coins of Midas. So, he was pleased when she informed him that she would come to his home. The house welcomed her. He could feel it in his bones. He blinked when his familiar tapped his hand with its paw. Then he nodded his head as he remembered his invisible audience.

"How rude of me to have made you wait. What a terrible host I am." He closed his journal and laid his head on the high backed leather chair. Lightning and thunder could be heard and seen flashing and clapping from the two windows in that circular study room.

His enigmatic, pale blue eyes shimmered and looked almost electric as they slowly met his invisible audience, "It was a night just like this that Kirimi's best friend's cousin had experienced something extraordinary. It happened two months after her accident. I called it the 'Call from Beyond…'"

_**Asada Heights, Apartment X-TA-C…**_

Naoko Hirada's entire body seemed like it was made of solid lead and she felt like she was being pulled in by an invisible magnet. She wheezed for breath but water entered her nostrils and mouth. She sputtered and choked while her body thrashed about, trying to break free from the grasp of death. Her head hurt terribly, as if someone or something was whacking hard at her cranium. Her skull cracked, blood gushed out, blurring her vision and she felt herself slipping under water, drowning in her own bathtub!

Her hands flailed and she screamed. Water gushed into her mouth… She woke up with a start, her heart was beating wildly and she coughed fitfully. All traces of sleep gone, she was perspiring and trembling as she slipped out of bed, hugging herself while shuffling towards the bathroom. Then, she stopped at her tracks, as she saw a flash of lightning and jumped at the clap of thunder. Sudden fear gripped her. She hesitated at the bathroom door, then turned and headed towards the kitchen instead.

There, she washed her face at the kitchen sink. Then, she grabbed a cookie from the cookie jar. She raided the fridge for a carton of full-cream milk. She sat on the kitchen stool and poured the milk into a mug. She ate another cookie. She didn't care about diets. She had no use for them since having these dreams. This wasn't the first time she was 'seeing' her own death. Nothing went right for her ever since that horrible car accident two months ago. Her parents died in that crash.

The bus that was out of control wasn't because the driver was drunk, he was avoiding another car whose driver was drunk and the bus driver swerved but one of the tires burst and that was what made the bus to lose control. The bus crashed through the divider and went over the other side of the road. That when the accident occurred. The bus banged their car. The impact sent their Daihatsu Mira spinning and then crashed against a divider separating the road and the ravine.

Her father who was at the wheel died instantly, her mother who was badly injured with both her legs stuck under the compacted car told her to safe herself. She didn't want to go but her mother screamed at her to go because it was too late for her mother but it wasn't too late for her. The car groaned and the divider creaked loudly. She heeded her mother's advice as she scrambled out from the broken back windshield. She dropped to her knees and as she turned she saw the divider broke and the car plunged downwards into the ravine.

She screamed and screamed not because of fright but seeing her mother's tear filled goodbye as she stared at her for the last time until she fainted. She was unconscious for two whole days. When she came about, and begun her life as normal that was when things started to go wrong for her. She started to have nightmares of her own death ever since moving into this apartment.

Fear was building by volumes with each dream more vivid than the last, weighing her down. Not even drowning her anxiety with midnight snacks in full force could eliminate the terror she felt. The terror she felt was enough to neutralise the fat build-up. She wasn't surprised at her current self. The reflection in the mirror showed a person with sallow complexion, reed thin body, sunken cheeks and bloodshot eyes with dark rings. Just as she was about to drink, her eyes widened in dread.

"Oh, no…," She cried in horror, "Not again!" She dropped her mug, and the milk had turned blood red. The mug broke into pieces spilling its contents.

The liquid didn't spread on the kitchen floor, but gathered itself and 'travelled' out of the kitchen. She was gripped with fear and curiosity but curiosity won and she found herself trailing it into the living room, then into the bedroom, heading straight for the bathroom. It crawled into the bathtub, slithered up the tiled wall at the head of the bathtub's taps. There it stopped. The dark liquid bubbled, forming a watery face. She jumped back in fright, slipped and fell on her bottom, as the watery red eyelids opened, revealing blood-red, tortured eyes.

Its mouth opened, spurting blood onto her pyjamas. ""H-help… h-help me… please…"

Her stomach churned at its rasping, miserable voice. She braved herself and managed to ask weakly, "Help?"

The apparition writhed in pain, "Here… died… killed…" The bloodied eyes stared imploringly, "Here… please…"

She woke with a start. Her pyjamas were damp with perspiration. It was a dream within a dream. She climbed out of bed as realization hit her. Those previous dreams that she had wasn't about her predicting her own death but it was the spirit of someone who lived and died here in this apartment. It was the spirit of someone who'd been murdered, relating the sin and asking for her help through dreams. She dragged a sledgehammer from the store room into the bathroom, stopping at the spot where she had fallen.

She looked at the tiled wall at the head of the bathtub. Gripping the sledgehammer with firm determination, she swung it at the tiled wall at the head of the bathtub's taps until she managed to make a large hole. She was covered in dust when she stopped. While brushing the soot off, she peeked with fearful anticipation into the hole and suddenly a skeletal hand with bits of rotted sinewy skin burst forth and hung at the edge of the hole.

"Acckkk!" She yelped, than clamped her mouth, stifling her horror. Her eyes caught sight of a shiny object clasped in its grip.

Wiping the beads of perspiration on her grimy forehead with the back of her hand, she looked carefully at the object, trying not to touch the skeletal hand. It was a watch and it had an inscription – 'Shigeru Inohara.' She'd heard of the name before. It was the name of the property agent and owner who sold the apartment to her. She gasped as her mind pieced everything together. She had proof and instinct told her that the murder weapon was hidden in the apartment, maybe even buried with the victim.

She frowned as she suddenly recalled something about man had a wild looking tattoo on his wrist. It was black and shaped of a seiryu (dragon) with flaming red eyes. He was one of the henchmen of a notorious yakuza leader in that prefecture. The yakuza leader was Roichi Murakami. But Inohara was afraid, wouldn't look and didn't dare look at the bathroom when he showed her the apartment. Now she knew the reason. He was guilty as hell. He would not get off that easily.

Gazing at the skeletal hand, she whispered, "Justice will be yours." Resolute, she went to the telephone at the side table beside her bed and dialled for the emergency number for the authorities, "Officer, I'm Hirada Naoko," Gulping her apprehension, "there's a dead body in my house, my address is…"

"Near death experiences often would trigger some unexplainable phenomenon to its victims. Some spiritualists would say that those who'd experienced near death were given a second chance in life to make the lives of the living and also the dead a justified one. In Hirada's case, she was what spiritualists would call a 'seer.' She 'sees' things that would make your skin crawl. These apparitions could be anything or anyone and projected to her anywhere and at any time." Umehito Nekozawa stroked the black cat's head lovingly.

"What are you mumbling about, Umehito-senpai?" A familiar voice made him look at a pleasing apparition before him.

He stopped stroking his cat. He glanced to see his favourite person besides his dear sister. "I told you not to worry." He spoke to his cat that had turned into a hand puppet when she entered the study ushered by the butler.

"Of course," Haruhi was looking at him with concern in her warm brown eyes, "I'm worried about you," Looking around at his line of sight wanting to see what he was seeing but couldn't, so she shook her head, "I was in front of you and I called out your name six times already."

Umehito smiled, "If you called my name for another thirty eight times, I'll be with you always." His eyes gazed at his curse breaker in a way only his cat knew what it meant.

She blinked unbelievably at him, "Are you alright?"

"I am excellent as always."

She frowned slightly, "I didn't ask how excellent you were." She sighed, "You rich people, can't even hold a normal conversation."

"I gather you had a tough time traveling here." He still gazed at her with that slow mysterious gaze of his.

She had a hand on her hip, "If I knew it would be raining this hard I'd have asked you to teleport me here. I hate lightning and thunder…"

"Actually," He smiled, "I did teleport you here. The terrain here's just as dangerous when it's raining or snowing." Then he was serious, "And I knew you hated lightning and thunder."

She was speechless. She didn't want to know how that happened. Anything impossible was possible for him. She didn't even want to know why that part of the episode was erased from her memory. She didn't dare ask him. The answer would probably shock her to death. It was best to let the unknown stay as it was.

He stood up, "You must be hungry, let's adjourn to the dining room." He came to her side and offered her his arm.

She took his arm, "Yes, I'm rather hungry." She nodded, than she tugged his sleeve, "Fill me in about the quest."

"I will."

"There's news about one death most gruesome," She told him, "Skinned alive the woman was. There's a nut lose somewhere…" She glanced at him, her eyes widened as it sank into her mind, "Don't tell me… it has something to do with our quest."

He wanted to sing when she said 'our quest.' But because of the gravity of the situation, he just nodded. Out of volition, "I don't want to lose you," He muttered under his breath, "You're too valuable to me."

"What're you mumbling about now?" She looked curiously at him.

His answer was as elusive as his smile, "There's a second chance in life. Cherish it." But nevertheless it sent chills down her spine.

THE END

**A/N: This is the second installment to Nekozawa's Journal of Mysteries. These two installments can be considered as prelude standalone independents. I'll stop at chapter three. However, if you want more independents to Neko's JoM, please do leave a line or two. The independents will have bits of their real quest. The real quest will begin when there're enthusiastic responses from you. The real quest will get its own space not shared nor inserted here. If you would like to see their supernatural quest come to life and how the mystery is unfolded, please by all means leave me a message / review. Another thing, if you read this chapter, there's a slight indication of my previous story WISH. This is to inform you that this prelude is after WISH (after they'd graduated from Ouran - 5 years for Haruhi and 7 years for Nekozawa). Those of you who are waiting for updates on the fantasy / mystery - LORD HARU, romance / humour - TENSHI FOR AKUMA and fantasy / adventure WISH, please be patient. Due to demands from you for a sequel to the fantasy / romance - KARESHI CARESS, I've a story frame for it in mind and am calling it as KARESHI CARESS: SECOND AGE. Right now, I'm still cultivating the plots for each series. But they won't be coming out so soon. Also, I've a sudden urge to write supernatural / mystery stories, so those of you who're into Neko/Haru will get an eyeload. Again, their quest (title TBA later) will depend on you.**


	3. Phantom Zone

A man with sandy blond hair looked at the twilight sky. He didn't have to wear his brown fedora and inserted a brown tinted Police glasses into his jacket's breast pocket. He still wore dark clothes because he had a skin pigmentation problem. His skin burnt easily so he would apply SPF 50++ on his skin whenever he went to work or for an outing. Since they would be going at twilight he applied a light coat of it on his skin. The lotion had also properties that repelled insects. He was walking towards the driveway when he stopped in his tracks.

His luggage would never fit in his partner's vehicle. It was a Land Rover. He had five bags of differing sizes. Looking at the vehicle, than at his bags he snapped his fingers once and the five bags shrank five times the size of the originals. His footman placed the incredibly smaller versions of the LV bags into the trunk of the car. He gazed at his partner who was seated on the garden bench situated in the gazebo. She looked on like someone immune with the quirky attitudes of the rich.

She also looked like someone who knew there was important stuff in each bag. She didn't look disgusted only wonderment. Not of his bags but at his palatial courtyard. Her mind was far away and she looked haunted. It reminded him of the time when they were hunting for the first cursed item. They had encountered a bizarre phenomenon on a highway. She had that same haunted look. He blinked as a shadowy cloud passed over his head as if telling him to pay attention to his surroundings.

He glanced back and nodded slightly in greeting at an unseen audience, "Hello there, my little kitties. I'll be taking a trip with my partner to retrieve the second cursed item. But," He looked at his partner who was miles away, "I'll let her rest for a while. She doesn't like travelling at this twilight hour." He sighed regrettably, "Unfortunately, we have no choice but to go at this time."

Leaning against the side of the car, "Time flows and each second wasted creates a wider gap in acquiring the cursed item." Gazing at his partner then shifted his attention to the invisible audience, "the place we were headed for the first cursed item was what I'd call a 'hotspot.' I called it 'Phantom Zone'…"

Haruhi huffed in frustration, while looking at the road map. She was sure that the road they were on was supposed to lead to Highway 44. Instead they found themselves at a forked road. According to the road sign, the right fork led to Eastside Street while the left one went to Westside Street. She furrowed her eyebrows, scrutinising the map again. These roads weren't in the map and the map was a new one.

"Perhaps the previous council road developers or planners forgot to jot this place down." She tapped a finger on the map, "But," she looked dissatisfied, "that's silly bordering on the crazy, isn't it?"

Umehito just stared at the forked road with narrowed eyes, "Why don't we just take one and see where it leads to?"

She shrugged, "Okay, you're the boss." She pointed at the forked road, "Which one?"

He gave a slow mysterious smile, "The left one."

"Okay."

The trees on both sides of the road grew so closely together that sunlight couldn't penetrate the canopy, lending the area a creepy air. The leaves whispered eerily, "Enterrr… eenterrr.."

She shuddered, suddenly cold. "Did you hear that?"

"Yes,"

"Good, I'm still sane." She let out a relieved sigh as she turned on the radio. Only garbled noises emerged but she kept it on because she felt chilled to the bone.

He just remained silent. His eyes focused ahead as the clearing appeared. Both he and she caught a glimpse of a wooden house with two little girls playing hop-scotch. She was relieved to find people living there. He wasn't, he looked suspicious. She slowed the car.

"Don't stop," He commanded, "drive on."

"But we're lost," she tried to reason with him, "I just want to ask for the way out of here." She slowed down when she met a man coming their way.

She rolled the glass window down, "Excuse me, sir, I need to ask you where Highway 44 is? We're a bit lost."

The man bent down, looking expressionless at them. His impassive yet bloodshot eyes gazed intently at her, "Go back to whence you came," he hissed, "Go!"

"Sorry," She shrugged, "but there wasn't any sign bearing the words 'Trespassers will be prosecuted.'"

A grotesque smile appeared on his face, "Would you like to be?" She felt a shiver of chill running down her spine as he said this.

"But, we're lost," she insisted. "Where is Highway 44?"

The smile disappeared. His face became serious and he frowned, "Leave now, before nightfall." He left her staring incredulously at his rudeness.

"Come on," Umehito tapped her shoulder, "time to go."

"What?" She held both hands up, "Was it hard to say 'I don't know'?"

"Look," Umehito pointed calmly at their surroundings.

She looked and found the children weren't there anymore. The whole area became gravely silent. It was too peaceful for comfort. Her instinct told her to heed Umehito's advice. She stepped on the accelerator and drove off as fast as the car could speed away. The car reached the forked road again then she saw a path out of the forked road and she took that path. From the rear mirror, she could not see the forked road anymore as it was covered by fog. Nightfall came, the twilight stars shone brightly in the sky. They were on Highway 44. The highway had a smooth flow of traffic.

"What was that about?" She asked a little too loud. Then it struck her, she glanced sideways at him, "You knew, didn't you?"

Umehito just nodded, "Yes."

He blinked out of his reverie and then looked at the unseen audience. "That forked road did exist fifteen years ago. But as the population grew so did the need for expansion. The people who lived there didn't want to leave. Providence, however," he said while looking heavenward, "had a hand in evacuating them. There used to be a mining quarry here which left the land very weak, so there was a massive landslide. That place was destroyed with everyone in it. If we didn't get out of that place before nightfall, I would have had my hands full in slaying the living dead."

He glanced at his partner who was walking towards him, "To me they were just pitiful souls trapped in bodies that should have been disintegrated ages ago. But because they had unfinished business in this living world that made their spirits linger on in their ageless bodies. The place only appears once in every ten years on a full moon before nightfall and if the living dead were to get us at nightfall, we'd be one of them. They were dissatisfied spirits, so I'd cast a containment barrier to that place. That barrier would shield unsuspecting passersby from entering that place and it would also prevent the living dead from crossing the barrier. If they did, they'd be annihilated and whisked into the netherworld where they belong."

Haruhi appeared before him, "I'm okay. Let's go."

"Sorry to have you take leave for this."

She shook her head, "I've quit my job as assistant attorney because I'm taking my masters online for a year or so. Of course, I can help you out to hunt for the cursed items." She smiled, "Besides you'd be employing me as your assistant until this quest is over."

"Yes, you are." He smiled lazily, "We have to go to Ekuba Station. There's something I've to get there."

Suddenly his cellphone rang, "Takashi, good to hear from you. What? Another one… okay, we'll meet you there."

"Was that Mori-senpai? What did he say?"

"Yes. The second victim was found dead. Headless, handless, feetless and bloodless. Takashi wants us to meet him at Hirajuku Hospital. We'll go there first."

She entered into the 4WD and turned the ignition on. "Well, hop in. I'd preferred if we could just teleport there, you know."

"Only on emergencies but you already know that." He smiled knowingly.

A small smile appeared and she rolled her eyes heavenwards, "Hmm."

And so began our quest…

THE END

**A/N: Dear Readers, this is the last installment of Neko's JoM. Like I said before, if you'd like to read more independents then please leave me a line or two. If you'd like to read their escapades on their supernatural quest, please leave me a line or two. Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing this fic. **


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